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Mother gets 18 years for starving mentally disabled child

JACKSONVILLE — The mother of a mentally disabled teen who died in 2011 after being found malnourished and covered with lice in her Jacksonville home will spend 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of child neglect.

Jessica Rivera, 32, was sentenced this week by Circuit Judge Kevin Blazs. She will get credit for 730 days she already has been in jail.

Romana Bones, 13, was found unresponsive in her Woodland Acres home in June 2011.

She was removed from the home but died a week later.

Romana’s siblings, ages 8, 7 and 5 at the time of their sister’s death, were found in the same filthy conditions and taken into state custody.

Officials with the Department of Children and Family Services previously said they were sent to live with relatives.

The arrest report said the teen was covered in lice and crabs and appeared to have been starved. Doctors at the hospital said she appeared to be brain dead and her core temperature was 86 degrees.

An autopsy said Ramana suffered from organ failure as a result of a massive infection within her body. Coroners also found hemorrhaging of her heart caused by pancreatitis and pneumonia.

Rivera moved with her four children to Jacksonville about nine months before her daughter died. The family previously lived in Interlachen where Rivera had been investigated for abuse in 2007 and 2008.

Records show the cases were closed after the family complied with measures taken by the state and the courts to help them.

Rivera originally faced charges of manslaughter, but the charges were dropped to child neglect when she agreed to plead guilty.